INTERSTATE POLLUTION CONTROL, INC.

EPA ID# ILT180011975
Last Updated: September, 2014

Site Description

The 2.8-acre Interstate Pollution Control (IPC) site is located northwest of Magnolia and Peoples Avenues in the south central part of Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois. The site is located in an area that has been heavily industrialized since the early 1900s. Historic industrial activities in the area include metal casting, plating, machine tooling, textile manufacturing, leather tanning, and printing operations.

The IPC property was originally a sand and gravel quarry. The city of Rockford used the quarry for waste disposal from 1942 until 1972, receiving residential, commercial, and industrial wastes, including large quantities of foundry sand. Aerial photographs and maps from the early to mid-1900s indicate there were several major quarries in the site vicinity. Most of these quarries have since been filled. A 1918 topographic map indicates a quarry existed beneath most of the IPC site. Later aerial photographs show the portions of the quarry under the site were completely filled in by 1943. Following filling of the quarry and immediately prior to IPC's operations, the site was an auto salvage yard.

IPC operated as a hazardous waste storage facility serving 30 to 40 local industry facilities from 1974 to 1982. Typical wastes hauled and stored on site by IPC include: cyanide waste from electroplaters, paint sludges and residues, industrial solvents, and waste oils from industry and service stations. IPC had a long history of poor waste management practices. On-site features included: an unlined impoundment, leaking tanks, leaking drums, and a mixture of incompatible wastes. During IPC's operation, support services were provided to two sister companies: a portable toilet business and a Roto-Rooter franchise.

The IPC site is surrounded by significant industrial facilities. The Gunite Foundry, located northeast of the site, has been in operation for at least 80 years. A former pet food plant, located immediately southwest of the site, processed meat and produced pet food from the turn of last century until the 1980s. The Peoples Avenue Landfill is located immediately southeast and south of the site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the IPC site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989.

Site Responsibility

The Interstate Pollution Control site is being addressed through potentially responsible party (PRP) actions under state and federal oversight.

Threats and Contaminants

Seventy-three chemicals of potential concern (COPC) detected in the site soil were selected for analysis in the risk assessment. These include 11 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 29 semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), 14 pesticide/PCB compounds and 18 trace metals and cyanide. A total of 33 chemicals detected in on-site groundwater (shallow and deep) were selected as COPCs. These include 11 VOCs, 10 SVOCs, one pesticide/PCB compound, 11 trace metals, and cyanide. Exposure to these chemicals through ingestion or by direct contact could pose human health risks.

Cleanup Progress

Significant contaminant removal actions occurred at the IPC site on two different occasions before the Superfund law was enacted in late 1980. First, IPC's incinerator was removed between 1976 and 1979. Second, IPC conducted a partial cleanup of the site in 1979 and 1980 in response to an order from the Illinois Pollution Control Board. During this partial cleanup, several bulk tankers containing wastes, approximately 180 cubic yards of material from the surface impoundment, and approximately 120 cubic yards of cyanide contamination, were removed. Twenty-one hundred 55-gallon drums of contaminated materials were also removed. The surface impoundment was backfilled and graded.

After the IPC site was listed on the NPL in 1989, EPA issued a unilateral administrative order (UAO) in August 1991 to IPC and a group of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to conduct additional removal actions at the site. Beginning in 1992, the PRPs (1) fenced the site, (2) removed over 1,400 tons of solid and hazardous waste, (3) demolished and removed all aboveground and underground tanks and significant physical structures, (4) installed a clay cover over the former impoundment, and (5) substantially cleared the site. These removal actions addressed more than 2.9 million pounds of solid and hazardous waste.

Also in 1991, the PRPs negotiated a partial Consent Decree with Illinois EPA and the Illinois Attorney General to undertake a remedial investigation (RI) (to determine the nature and extent of remaining site contamination) and a feasibility study (FS) (to evaluate cleanup options) at the site. The RI field investigations were conducted in 1993 and 1994 and a final RI report was submitted in 1997.

In late 1999, Illinois EPA selected the final cleanup actions for the site: (1) construct an impermeable barrier cover over the remaining surface contamination, and (2) conduct monitored natural attenuation (MNA) of the groundwater contamination. In October 2002, EPA concurred with this cleanup decision. Negotiations with the PRPs for the implementation of this remedy were held and resulted in the PRPs agreeing to conduct the site design and cleanup action. This agreement was documented in a Consent Decree (CD) entered on November 22, 2005.

Cleanup design and then construction began immediately after the CD was entered. The major cleanup actions were completed by summer 2006 and were documented in a Preliminary Close Out Report (PCOR) dated September 6, 2006. The groundwater is currently undergoing regular monitoring to assess whether MNA is occurring.

The first five-year review (FYR) was completed in March 2011. Illinois EPA requested that the PRPs to perform an Institutional Controls Study for the site. The PRPs recently completed this study and it is under review by Illinois EPA.

The second FYR will commence in spring 2015 and will be completed by spring 2016.